Guide for platen-presses.



SAMUEL n. DITTMAN, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

GUIDE FOR PLA'IEN-IRESSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 10, 1914.

Application filed December 27, 1913. Serial No. 808,960.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL E. Drrrrran, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Guides for Flatten-Presses; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,

and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecitication.

This invention relates to improvements in guides for use in connection with platen printing presses,and more particularly to devices of the character described constituting a means for retaining sheets of paper or cards upon the tympan of a press, durlng the operation of printing, and for elfecting the proper positioning or registering ofthe sheet or card with respect to the printing form during the movement of the tympan to and from the form.

Guides of the character described are particularly designed for use in connection with platen presses, which type of press is commonly used for the printing of sheets of paper in the form of circulars or cards, or

for other job printing. This type of printing press ordinarily embodies a stationary printing form in which the type or printing plates are held, and has a rocking platen carrying the tympan. The sheets are fed to the press by hand, which operation is accomplished by placing a single blank sheet or card upon the tympan, during the movement of the carriage to and from the pr1nting form, immediately following the removal of a sheet which has been printed.

The operation of removing a printed sheet and replacing a blank sheet requires c011- siderable dexterity on the part of the op erator by reason of the rapid and continuous movement of the carriage or platen. To facilitate the OlJQIffltlOIlQf feeding the sheets to the press, guides or gages are usually provided, which are secured to the tympan in such positions as the size of the sheet and relation of thesheet to the type requires.

Various forms of guides commonly used for this purpose have been constructed of metal in an elaborate manner, involving considerable cost in the manufacture thereof. The ordinary forms of guides are those, secured to the tympan by means of pins in- Fig. i is asectional view sorted through the tympan, which tend to mutilate the surface of the same in instances where frequent rearrangement ofthe guides 18 required.

One of the principal objects of my inven tion is to provide a guide that is exceeds Further advantages and novel features of;

my invention will be hereinafter set forth, more particularly specified in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- F i ure 1 is atview in were )ective showin a a a a portion of a tympan, the guides mounted thereon, and a card held in position to be printed; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the bottom surface of a single guide; Fig. 3 is a sectional View taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; taken on line -4 of Fig. 9.; Fig. 5 is a viewin perspective showing method of manufacturing a num ber of guides in the form of strips or H gar gs 37; tive of guide, showing the manner in which the tongue portion may be trimmed.

Referring to the drawings, a single guide A, asrepresented in Figs. 2 and 3, is formed from a sheet of material of a thickness substantially.that of a sheet of heavy paper or of cardboard which may be of a quality ordinarily used for cards. As a preferred material for making these guides, a tough fibrous paper having waterproof qualities and Fig. 6 is a view In perspecobtained by a parafiining process is used,

although any other material having like qualities, or sheet metal, may be employed in the manufacture thereof. The materials suggested are best suited for the construction of the guides in that they combine the qualities of sufficient thinness to approximate the thickness of the sheets or cards to y be held, and have sufficient body or stiffness to be pressed into and retain the desired form, and are sufliciently durable to withstand considerable usage, and low in cost of manufacture withal.

Referring now to the guide A, composed by preference of the hereinhefore mentioned fibrous paper, the same comprises a rectangular body portion B, and a similarly shaped tongue or guard portion C, integral with the body portion and extending at right angles to the length thereof. The said body portion B comprises a central section D and two end sections E at either side of -the central section. The tongue portion C is, approximately equal in width to that of said central section D. The central section D lies in a plane slightly above the plane of the end sections E, E, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4,

the distance said central section is raised d, d. In like manner the tongue-portion B.

lies in a plane slightly above that of'the end sections and, by preference, in the plane of the central section D. By this construction,

therefore, is obtained a guide having a body portion provided with end sections adapted toengage the surface of the tympan, a central section raised abovethe end sections, and a tongue portion extending fromsaid central section. The said end sections are f, f, in alinement one with the other and acting as shoulders, against which the margins of the card may abut, thereby assuring the proper placement of the cards or sheets to be printed within the guides. When a guide embodying these features is secured to the tympan with the end sections in, contact therewith, a space is formed between the surface of the tympan and the under surface of the tongue portion, sufficient to permit a card or sheet of paper to pass under the tongue and abut firmly against the margins f, f of the end portions. The central section D being raised above the end sections in the manner suggested, permits the card or sheet to pass beneath the tongue portion and in contact with said margins f, f, without interference. The lower or bottom faces of the end sections E, E are preferably provided with a coating of adhesive material 0, by means of which the guide may be secured to the surface of the tympan.

A guide embodying the features hereinbefore described may be formed in any desired manner, as for instance, by subjecting the same to pressure between suitably constructed dies, whereby theproper bending or forming of the central and tongue portions is accomplished. v

To apply the guides in the operation of printing and assuming that a quantity of cards Gr (Fig. 1) are to be printed, the po-: sition of the card upon the tympan F is first determined, so that the same will. properly register with the type or printing form of the press. A suitable number of guides A are then secured to the face of the tympan by means of the adhesive, the number used depending upon the size of the cards to be printed. In Fig. 1, three of these guides are illustrated, two of which are placed in position. to engage the longer margin of the card, the remaining guide being placed in position to engage the shorter margin. These guides are arranged in such a manner that the margins f, f of the end sections adjacent to the tongue portions shall coincide with an imaginary line indicating the margins of the card. So positioned,

the tongue portions of the guides will project over the space to be occupied by the card during the operation of printing, and when the latter is inserted beneath said tongue portions they will, act to hold the card in; place, with the margins adjacent to the guides in abutting relation with the shoulders formed by the margins f, f of the guides. These margins, lying in a straight line, assure the proper alinement of the card, without re uiring any particular degree of care on tie part of the operator in placing the card in position to be held by the guides. Asa preferable method ofman- :ufacturing these guides in large numbers preferably provided with straight margins.

and at low cost and of placing them on the market in a convenient form, I propose to employ the following method wherein a strip K (Fig. 6) of the fibrous material of any desirable length and of a width slightly greater than the transverse dimension of the guides to be formed, is subjected to pressure at intervals along its length, by any suitable process, so that the portions thus subjected to pressure are offset from the plane of the intermediate portions. In this manner there are formed transversely extending and alternately spaced offset portions L and M. The amount of the offset thus applied to the strip is preferably equal to the thickness of the paper. The width of the offset and intermediate portions L and M is preferably equal, respectively, to. the width of the end sections E, E, and the central and tongue portions D and C of the guides A (Fig. 2) to be formed. The surface of each alternate offset portion 'L, L is supplied with a coating of adhesive material. The strip K is then subjected to a cutting process whereby the individual guides may be formed. This cutting process consists in' providing a plurality of transverse and longitudinal cuts or slits in the strip, as follows: One set of cuts 1,1 is located on an imaginary central line bisccting the strip longitudinally and extendingthroughout the lines qt, 9%. ranged in pairs m, m and m, on, said pairs the said extremities outwardly toward the margins or the strip and along the dividing These transverse cuts are an joining the adjacent extremities oi. the ion gitudinal cuts. 6, Z and extendingalternately in opposite directions. ilhese pairs of trans verse cuts m, m, m, in do not extend to the margins. of the strip,,but terminate short of the same, and. preferably at the lines 0, 0 extending parallel with and lo cated adjacent to the margins of the strip. The lines 0, 0 may be indicated in anysuitable manner.

By providing the strip with the cuts which divide the adjacent offset portions in the manner suggested, a plurality of guides are formed, each guide consisting of apertion M, comprising the offset or raised con tral section and tongue portion thereof and one-half of two adjacent portions L,,L,

properly supplied with adhesive, forming the end sections. The several guides thus cut from the strips remain connected by the narrow continuous marginal portions of the material between the margins of the strip and the broken lines 0, 0. To separate the guides therefrom, it is only necessary to cut Ice along the lines 0, 0, pcrl'nitting the guides to be easily detached one from the other.

This manner of forming the guides in the form of strips, each comprising a multiplicity of connected guides, as described, not only provides an ciiicient and inexpensive method of n1anufacture,but further affords a convenient method. of placing the articles upon the market and for maintaining a sufiicient supplyat hand.

It is to be understood that the oilset tongue portion of the guides may be of any desired shape or size, as the nature of the work or the convenience of the user may dictate. For this reason the tongue portions are, by preference, made 01 ample size and rectangular in shape, so that the user may trim the tongue portion in several ways, as for instance in the form of a point as shown in Fig. 6.

It is to be understood that a guide em bodying the features hereinbefore set forth may be formed ottvarious materials, as, for instance, of sheet metal, and for that reason the method of manufacturing the same and the details of construction may vary to considerable extent without departing from the spirit of the invention. 1 do not wish to be limited to the features described and set forth in thespll claim as my invention:

1. A guide for platen presses, for retaining sheets upon the tympan thereof, comprising a sheet of material formed to provide a body portion adapted to be secured to the surface of the tympan and having a margin forming a shoulder: against which the margins of the sheets abut, and a por tion offset above said body port10n and 10 cated laterally of said margin, and a tongue portion attached to said oil'set portion and w :margin of a sheet to be printed, said body portion having an upwardly ofl'sct SGClJlOll,

located above and laterally of the first named section, and a tongue portion forming a continuation of said upwardly ofl'set section and extending beyond and above said margin of the first named section.

3. A guide for platen presses, comprising a body portion having end sections and an intern'iediate central section, said end sections being provided upon their under surfaces with a coating of adhesive material, and provided with margins 111 longitudinal alinement forming a shoulder adapted to engage in abutting relation the margin of a sheet to be prmted, said central section being offset upwardly from said end section,

and a tongue portion integral with said body portion throughout the central section and extending beyond and above the said margins 01'' the end sections.

4t. An article of manufacture, comprising a strip of flexible material having alter- .nately arranged and transversely extending ice oilset portions, each alternate ofl'set portion 1 being provided with acut entending longitudinally of the strip, said cuts acting to separate said alternate ofi'set portions to form the end sections of a plurality 01 1111- detached guides, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. An article of manufacture, comprising a strip of flexible material having alter- 1..

nately arranged and transversely extending oifset portions, each portion of said strip intermediate of the oilset portions being provided with a cut extending longitudinally of the strip, and a coating of adhesive applied to the undepressed surfaces of said intermediate port ons, said cuts acting to separate the intermediate sections to form the end sections of a plurality of undetached grndes, substantlally as and for the purpose described. i

6. An article of manufacture, comprising a strip of flexible material having alternately arranged and transversely extending offset portions, eachportion being provided with a cut extending longitudinally of and between the marginsoif the strip, and pairs of the transverse cuts extending from the adjacent ends of thezfirst mentioned cuts alternately in opposite directions, said cuts lee thereby forming a plurality of detachable guides, substantially as and for the purpose described. i

7. An article of manufacture, comprising a strip of flexible material provided With transversely extending and alternately arranged offset portions, the portions intermediate said offset portions having a coating of adhesive upon their undepressed surfaces and provided with cuts extending parallel to and between the margins of the strip, and pairs of transverse cuts extending from the ends of said first mentioned cuts alternately in opposite directions and terminating short of the margins of the strip,

each of said ofi'set portions thereby forming the tongue portion and central section of the Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents eaeh, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

